Competitive Exams: Current Affairs Science and Technology 2008

Science and Technology Current Affairs 2008

Nine out of eleven scientific instruments on board Chandrayaan have become on. Chandrayaan-1 the satellite successfully launched by the ISRO for getting more data on lunar surface.

The Big Bang Experiment (27 August 2008)

How did the universe begin? That question has always perplexed. The viewing of the celestial bodies by highly advanced telescopes showed red light being emitted. As it was known that the red spectrum in the band of the whole light spectrum is at extreme end this concluded that the bodies are moving further away. In other words the universe is expanding.

After this inference, the after thought emerged about beginning of the universe by conversely viewing the situation of the expanding universe that is of the time when universe was relatively shrunked. That is if the bodies are moving away from each other, then at some time they were close and further going back they would have originated from one point.

The Famous Big Bang theory says just this. That the universe was formed from one big explosion nicknamed as Big Bang which the big bang theory states and from that, the celestial bodies emerged and began moving away thus resulting in expansion of the universe.

With this background in mind, people have been witnessing the most expensive scientific experiment ever on the formation of universe which has caught headlines world wide.

The basic aim of the experiment is to find out about the formation of the universe and why is it so. What were the conditions just microseconds after the big bang happened which lead to the formation of the universe. The knowledge out of this question would help to understand better on the forces acting between the celestial bodies. More information on tiny particles quarks and gluons which were just a close cluster just after the big bang would be obtained. Reason for quarks being heavier when confined in larger particles like protons may be known.

For this purpose the scientists have tried to recreate the conditions like at that instant of time by a standard model to see what happens. For this, they have tried colliding atoms successfully to see what happens just microseconds after and watch other effects.

This has been done by using the world's most powerful accelerator Large Hadron Collider, which is inside 17 mile tunnel lying 328 feel below the ground. It designed to generate nearly one billion collisions between protons per second at energy of 14 trillion electron volts. Also will it be able to create collisions between lead ions at energy of 1, 150 TeV.

Mars Exploration by NASA complete (27 August 2008)

NASA's Mars Exploration is complete. The wheeling explorer had descended into the giant crater of Mars and had been there for nearly a year for examining the rocks layers.

Next is the inspection of losse cobbles on the plains. The vehicle named ‘Opportunity’ has six wheels and moves on the rought terrain of Mars analysing the samples from the surface for inspection.

India's Prospective Space mission (21 August 2008)

Chandrayan-1 is the prospective unmanned mission to moon between October and December. This is planned to be undertaken in collaboration with seven other nations tying up with NASA.

ISRO spokesperson S Satish disclosed of this and a key pact was signed at the conference of International Lunar Users'Group at Nasa's Ames Research Center. In this regard, Devi Prasad Karnik represented India who is a space counselor linked to the Indian Embassy in Washington.

The other seven countries which have come into the fold of this mission are Canada, Germany, Italy, Japan, South Korea, France and Britain. This is obviously to pave way for new breakthroughs in this arena and send robotic expedition for a manned mission to the moon.

NASA will be extra benefited with indulgence of these countries apart from India which are keen for manned missions in course for future.

Scientific advancement in criminology has a recent new breakthrough. Finger prints will further reveal the type of chemical substances handled by the suspect. By scrutinizing the impressions of the fingerprint by latest scientific means, detection of chemical traces of handled substances can be done. The traces are left on the ridges of the finger print pattern which are 5 parts per million of chemicals like cocaine, explosives or poisons etc. This has generated a wave in crimonolgy as apart from identity of the person still further handling of substances by him will be detectable giving a further feasibility in investigation process.

The different layers of fingerprints can be individually segregated too as the distribution of compounds found in each fingerprint can be unique. So one fingerprint can be pulled from beneath the other fingerprints individually identifying it with the identity of the suspect, and verifying the substances handled by him or her.

Bullet velocity regulated guns now (24 July 2008)

Early 19 century saw development of gun for delivering multiple loads in a single barrel in quick succession in the form of revolver. Now here's another turning point in this era-The development of gun for delivering multiple speed loads in a single barrel.

The project is in development stage and the US army is funding into its development. The gun is in development for delivering a velocity regulated shot either enough to just wound a subject or kill him depending upon the gun's setting.

The weapon is called Variable Velocity Weapon System and would be equipped by soldiers for riot controls and such duties.

The basic mechanism is that the mixture of liquid or gaseous fuel with air in a combustion chamber would cause the bullet to propel. The explosive capability would depend on the mixture choosed depending upon the setting for lethal or non lethal shot.

It makes one to think of the legal complications which can arise with it if there happens to be any sort of malfunction. With no bargain for margin of error in such cases, but possible involvement of laws of probability like in everywhere, its legal aspects have to be clealy defined. Among various other factors, the deciding factor for a velocity setting to be a non lethal one especially for a particular target subject in certain health, built and gender is a matter of debate. Lately with the news of the death of one by tazer gun used by police in US further causes us to reflect just how complicated legal formalities may have to be before the implementation of this Variable Velocity Weapon System commences in actuality.

Petrol shortage … Here's seems an alternative (29 June 2008).

Lately lot of media interest has aroused over the use of water powered car. As the name sounds, the car is purely powered by water. Surprising as it sounds but real, the basic idea employed is the electrolysis of water. Electrolysis which is basically passing of current through a solution, as here, water, breaks it into two elements that is oxygen and hydrogen. So oxygen and hydrogen become substitute for gasoline and there you are. Though still it is in preliminary stage of experimentation, there are lot of factors which have to be further enhanced most importantly the speed and power thrust. Though it still runs cool at about 80 kilometers in some models.